Slowly but surely the good old “screws” are being forced out of the market. Nowadays, if hard drives are needed for anything, it is only for specific tasks such as storing large amounts of data. But why does an ordinary user with a channel of at least 25 Mbit/s need this? It's no surprise that more and more people are choosing solid state drives, which are much faster and quieter than HDDs. Today we’ll tell you what you should pay attention to when choosing an SSD.
When buying a hard drive, you just had to decide on the capacity, choose a model with a higher spindle speed (in most cases 7200 rpm) and a larger buffer memory (usually 64 MB). SSDs have a great many nuances that many users are not even aware of. We’ll tell you about them, too. Did you know, for example, that the speed of a solid-state drive is very often related to its capacity?
Where to stick it?
How was the hard drive? You take and connect the cable from the power supply to it, connect it to the motherboard with a SATA cord, and you're done! When choosing an SSD, you definitely need to decide how you will integrate it into your computer, and also find out what integration methods your machine supports.
The easiest option is to go the HDD route. You can choose a solid-state drive in the form factor of a 2.5″ laptop hard drive. Externally, it will be a small flat box, which, just like a hard drive, can be connected to a laptop or desktop computer using a power cable and a SATA cord.
SSDs of different form factors
There is an SSD in the form of an expansion card, which is inserted into the PCI Express slot of the motherboard in the same way as, for example, Wi-Fi receivers, USB controllers, etc. Due to the features that we will talk about later, such drives will almost always be faster than the solutions discussed in the paragraph above.
However, drives in the form of expansion cards are not in high demand. Instead, the real competition for 2.5-inch models with SATA connections comes from devices designed for the M.2 form factor. This is a relatively new standard that is already widely used in modern components. The main thing is to check on the website of the manufacturer of your motherboard or laptop whether you have the required slot.
A drive in the M.2 form factor looks like a compact board slightly larger than a lighter. No cables are needed here - the board is inserted directly into a miniature connector located on the motherboard and pressed with a screw. But there is a nuance: such media can be of different lengths - 42, 60, 80 or 110 mm. However, you shouldn’t worry too much about this, because most consumer SSDs and, accordingly, the hardware for them are adapted to a length of 80 mm.
In the case of an M.2 SSD, the drive can exchange data with the system both via the SATA interface and via PCI Express. The first path, as we have already said, was followed by most models of the 2.5″ form factor, and the second - solid-state drives in the form of expansion cards. It is more practical to choose those M.2 SSDs that are “friendly” with PCI Express, because this interface provides data transfer speeds several times higher than SATA.
Well, we’ve decided: we choose an SSD in the M.2 form factor with PCI Express support. Often you can see an inscription like “PCI Express 3.0 x4”. Scary? In fact, everything is simple: 3.0 is the version of PCI Express, and 4 is the number of data lines that are connected to the SSD connector. In short, the more there are, the potentially higher the speed of information exchange. The best you can find today is support for PCI Express 3.1 x4 and PCI Express 3.0 x8. But there are still very few such drives; they are made by Intel, and they are expensive. Optimal in terms of price and performance - PCI Express 3.0 x4.
There are also drives of 3.5″, 1.8″, mSATA, DOM form factor, but almost all of them are rare and uninteresting for most “home” users.
Briefly about the main thing: if the hardware allows, it is better to take an SSD in the M.2 form factor and connected via the PCI Express bus. If the system is a bit old, buy a 2.5″ SATA drive - it will be slower, but also cheaper.
Remember the memory!
Solid state drives are very technologically advanced things and are constantly evolving. It is especially important what type of flash memory is used in the SSD. In fact, this is the fundamental basis on which all your information will be stored.
Right off the bat, you can name six types of memory, although in fact there are three (well, or four). Let's figure it out. You can immediately forget about SLC flash memory. It's very cool, durable and incredibly fast, but expensive. Its characteristics are even redundant for users. In the end, what difference does it make whether your SSD lives for a thousand years or seventy?
Structure of standard “flat” memory
Therefore, drives with MLC and TLC memory are common today. If in the case of SLC one flash memory cell contains 1 bit of information, then MLC contains 2 bits, and TLC contains 3 bits. Alas, along with an increase in density, other consumer characteristics fall. It is believed that MLC can withstand 20 times fewer information rewrite cycles than SLC, and this type of memory is also approximately half as slow. TLC, in turn, is even worse with durability and speed.
It seems that the choice is obvious: since you won’t find drives with SLC memory during the day, take MLC and be happy. However, technology, marketing and price come into play and all combine to give TLC a chance. Firstly, despite the existing speed differences, the user will not notice a difference in the performance of similar SSDs with different types of memory. Secondly, in addition to the type of flash memory, the speed of the drive is also affected by other parameters, which we will discuss below. Thirdly, the generations of MLC and TLC are constantly changing, the technical process is being improved, and the consumer differences between the two technologies are becoming less and less.
Wait a minute, what is TLC 3D V-NAND and MLC 3D V-NAND? The next new types of memory? Yes and no. The types remain the same - TLC and MLC. Another thing is that 3D V-NAND indicates the relative arrangement of memory cells in several layers instead of the usual flat array. This significantly increases the storage capacity, and is also said to significantly improve its speed and durability.
Memory structure like 3D V-NAND
And one more thing. Intel has brazenly intervened in the long-established state of affairs, where in fact there are only TLC 3D V-NAND and MLC 3D V-NAND, having recently launched drives with a fundamentally new type of 3D XPoint memory onto the market. This is a real innovation, the full structure and functioning of which is not publicly available today. But even without this, tests show that Intel's Optane drives are many times faster than flagship solutions built on TLC 3D V-NAND or MLC 3D V-NAND. Due to the novelty of the development, it is too early to talk about the reliability and durability of the new memory, but Intel promises almost eternal operation of the SSD on 3D XPoint. The future is already here! But the future is very expensive - how do you like the idea of paying almost three thousand rubles for 375 GB?
Briefly about the main thing: If you don't have a lot of money, pay attention to Intel Optane with 3D XPoint memory. If you are not ready to pay more than a thousand rubles for 280 GB, look for models with 3D MLC V-NAND memory. Do you need to save money without the need to transfer terabytes of information every day? Then calmly take 3D TLC V-NAND - you won’t lose anything.
If you drive more quietly, you won't be far from the HDD
“Well, everything is clear with speed! Take where it says more, and that’s it,”- most SSD buyers probably think. Ha, if only it were that simple! However, solid state drives are like a whole life, everything is not easy here.
We already know that memory speed is affected by the connection interface, the type of memory, and even the location of the cells relative to each other. Now let's add a couple more variables to all this.
The controller is no less important part of the SSD than the memory type. A bad controller can ruin the full potential of a 3D MLC V-NAND connected via a high-speed PCI Express bus. A good one will reveal TLC in such a way that 3D XPoint will be jealous. We're exaggerating, but in theory it's something like this.
The controller is a chip with computing cores and firmware software. Together they are responsible for managing the operations of writing and reading information in memory cells, for exchanging data with SATA or PCI Express, servicing the drive, etc. The trouble is that there are a lot of controller manufacturers, and each of them has several in their portfolio models.
Today, hardly anyone will choose an SSD based on its controller. Still, modern drives, as a rule, receive “added” chips that do not limit the memory potential. Traditionally good ones are Samsung Polaris and Phoenix, Silicon Motion SM2262, current representatives of Marvell and Phison. But, we repeat, you should pay special attention to choosing a controller only if you know what you are looking for and why (and such users are unlikely to read this article).
Also, the speed of the drive is affected by... its volume! Not directly, but indirectly. Did you think that there was no difference between the 250 GB and 1 TB model within the same line, except for capacity and price? Oh no, there is a difference, and what a difference.
Firstly, the volume of buffer DRAM memory is important for performance - in fact, it is an analogue of computer RAM, which is needed for ultra-fast data processing. The amount of DRAM memory almost always depends on the size of the drive. Thus, in the new line of Samsung 970 EVO, models with a capacity of 250 and 500 GB have a buffer with a capacity of 512 MB, and the “terabyte” already boasts a gigabyte of RAM. Relatively recently, bufferless SSDs have become fashionable - inexpensive, but noticeably losing in performance.
But that's not all. Many modern SSDs have SLC cache. Is this acronym familiar? Remember when we talked about memory types, we mentioned SLC? Current drives can imitate the operation of this type of memory. In this case, only 1 bit of information is written to one cell, and not 2 or 3. Due to this, the speed of operation increases.
Typically, part of the SSD capacity is reserved for the SLC cache; additional memory can also be allocated for it depending on needs and the remaining free space. In general, the smaller the drive, the less SLC cache it has. For example, the popular 250 GB Samsung 960 EVO model can have an SLC cache capacity of approximately 13 GB, while the 500 GB model can already have 22 GB. Those lucky enough to have a terabyte can count on 42GB of cache.
The speeds that you see in the drive description are often indicated taking into account the ultra-fast SLC cache. But what happens when it's full? When full, the buffer dumps the information written into it into a standard functioning, but slower TLC or MLC memory. In most cases, this does not affect the work experience in any way. But if you decide to record a huge file, for example a 40GB BDRemux movie, you will certainly experience a drop in performance as soon as the cache fills up. So, a 250 GB drive will write the first 12-13 GB to the SLC cache at a speed of about 1500 MB/s, after which it will drop by a factor of five. But a terabyte SSD will “digest” your 40 GB in one go.
Everything is clear with reading and writing: the first parameter registers the speed of reading information from the drive, the second - the speed of writing data to it. Due to the nature of SSD operation, the first indicator is higher than the second. For example, let's say the sequential read speed is 2000 MB/s. Then the sequential recording speed will be approximately half as low. In any case - outstanding performance!
But we must take into account that in everyday life and working at a computer, sequential writing and reading are used very rarely. This is from the history of large files whose data is sequentially read or copied in successive memory cells. If you often copy movies back and forth or edit videos, this is all for you. It is believed that among the tasks of the average user in a vacuum, only about 3-5% are related to work with sequential reading and writing.
Briefly about the main thing: When choosing an SSD, first of all pay attention to the random read and write speed. And even though it is indicated in insignificant IOps, this allows you to compare the performance of different models and give preference to the one that has more of these same IOps.
Very briefly about the most important things
- It is advisable to give preference to SSDs in the M.2 form factor and connected via PCI Express. The main thing is that the required connector is on the motherboard.
- For the memory type, select MLC 3D V-NAND or TLC 3D V-NAND. The first one is a little more durable and more expensive, but the second one is cheaper.
- Drives smaller than 250 GB should only be purchased as a last resort. The golden mean is a 500 GB SSD.
- Any modern solid state drive will be faster than a hard drive. But you shouldn’t rely on the sequential reading and writing speeds demonstrated by the manufacturer - you will use them extremely rarely.
Hello admin! I decided the other day to buy a solid state drive! I came to a computer store and told the seller:
Sell me the fastest SSD!
and they answered me:
Here you go, Kingston HyperX 3K (120 GB, SATA-III) speed 555 MB/s, excellent SSD, it doesn’t get any faster.
Prove it!
Apparently they wanted to sell me this SSD so much that they installed it on the computer and ran the test in the CrystalDiskMark program, then showed the test result, here is the screenshot:
Sequential read speed of 541 MB/s and write speed of 493 MB/s, I even took a photo of it with my phone.
In short, I bought this SSD, came home, connected it to my computer, then downloaded and launched the “CrystalDiskMark” program and ran the same test, but the result was worse!
Sequential read speed of 489 MB/s and write speed of 127 MB/s. Why?
In the store, the test was carried out on a computer with an Intel® Core™ i5 processor and 4GB of memory, but my computer is more powerful and is built on an Intel® Core™ i7 processor and has 8GB of memory.
Explain to the admin what the catch is, otherwise I won’t sleep, after all, this SSD costs 3 and a half rubles.
Hi all! Yes, this can happen, friends, you just need to know how to use the CrystalDiskMark program. Now I will show you everything.
- Note: You may be interested in our other articles on SSDs
We will conduct the SSD test in the CrystalDiskMark 3 0 3 program
The program can be downloaded from the official website http://crystalmark.info/download/index-e.html
CrystalDiskMark tests our SSD this way:.
All: All 4 tests are performed (Seq, 512K, 4K, 4K QD32);
Seq: Sequential write/read test (block size= 1024Kb);
512K: Random write/read test (block size = 512Kb);
4K: Random write/read test (block size = 4Kb);
4K QD32: Random write/read test (block size = 4Kb, queue depth = 32) for NCQ and AHCI;
The final result.
First, test your SSD or any other hard drive correctly! The fastest SSD will read and write information is the area filled with only zeros. To do this, in CrystalDiskMark, select file from the menu File->Test Data->All 0x0000 (Fill).
I also have this Kingston HyperX 3K SSD (120 GB, SATA-III) and now I will do a simple test.
In the operating system, the SSD drive is under the letter D:, which means in the program settings select the letter D: and click
The test of our SSD for sequential read and write speed begins!
In a minute we get the result. Sequential read and write speed 543 MB/s (read), 507 MB/s (write)
Now we do the test differently. File->Test Data->Default (Random)
After a minute, we get a result completely different from when testing with the All 0x0000 (Fill) option. Sequential read and write speed 499 MB/s (read), 149 MB/s (write)
It is also important for the SSD to work properly to connect it to your motherboard correctly. All solid-state drives have a high-speed SATA 3.0 (6 Gb/s) interface, and your motherboard probably has such connectors. For example, my ASUS P8Z77-V PRO motherboard has four SATA 6 Gb/s ports and they are marked accordingly SATA 6G, which means we connect the SSD according to the marking.
To connect the SATA 6 Gb/s SSD interface, use a native SATA 6 Gb/s data cable!
When a PC gamer wonders which tuning options are the most important, besides the obligatory purchase of a powerful graphics card and processor, we give him the following advice: replace your classic hard drive with an SSD drive. Just buy not a SATA-SSD, but a flash drive that transfers data via PCI-Express and uses the NVMe protocol for this.
Such models achieve five times higher data transfer speeds, and this technology practically knows no upper limit. Currently, the market is increasingly filled with similar turbo drives (albeit still quite expensive), so the gamer is faced with the question of whether he is ready to invest a little more money in a significant increase in speed or will give preference to classic, relatively slow SSDs.
New era of turbo SSD
To replace the HDD, you didn’t have to think about anything special - just buy a drive of the size you need. Over time, everything became somewhat more complicated, since the SATA interface was originally designed to work with the AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Protokol) protocol and the corresponding driver for slow classic drives with spinning magnetic disks.
An unpleasant side effect: the SATA-600 interface allows a maximum data transfer rate of 600 MB/s.
If you look at ours, you can see that many models achieve an average data transfer speed (when reading) already above 550 MB/s, and when writing, you can often see 540 MB/s on their “speedometer”. Thus, it becomes obvious that this technology no longer has the potential for growth in performance today.
In other words, the SATA interface can become a so-called “bottleneck” for flash drives, which are becoming faster and faster. It's good that new SSDs bypass this speed limit if you use PCIe connectors for connections instead of red SATA cables - that is, use the type of connection that was traditionally used for graphics cards. A single PCIe 3.0 lane can theoretically transfer up to 1 GB/s.
Tiny NVMe-SSDs like the new Samsung PM971 are also suitable for ultrabooks or tablets - they measure only two centimeters
In this test, four such lines were used to connect SSD drives. So this gives a maximum of 4 GB/s - at least in theory. In practice, this figure is not achieved: the highest data transfer speed to date was demonstrated by the latest Samsung 960 Pro with a reading result of 2702 MB/s.
This is significantly faster than any SATA-SSD, and the interface has not yet exhausted its potential: data transfer speeds are currently limited by the type of flash memory used and the storage media controllers.
This might be interesting:
Two different types of connectors
Unlike SATA drives, when purchasing a turbo SSD, you should pay attention to the correct choice of its form factor. Fast data storage devices can be produced both in the form of expansion cards inserted into a PCIe connector, and in the form of memory strips that are installed in so-called M.2 slots.
Thus, before purchasing the model you like, we recommend that you take a look at the motherboard and check whether the appropriate type of interface is presented there.
Many SSD manufacturers develop software that analyzes the health of NVMe SSDs. Intel calls it Solid-State Drive Toolbox
This advice is especially relevant for older motherboards, since their M.2 slot can only output the SATA bus for data transfer. Anyone who is assembling a new computer for themselves may not have to worry too much about this issue: motherboards for new processors have M.2 connectors with a PCIe connection and support the new Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) data exchange protocol - this provokes a second turbo. jump.
Unlike models for M.2, SSDs in the form of a card for a PCIe connector may also be interesting for upgrading older systems. However, you should definitely make sure that there is one more free PCIe slot on the motherboard in addition to the one occupied by the graphics card.
And one more small detail may turn out to be very important: of the six SSD drives taken for this test, four have an expansion card form factor, but only three of them support the PCIe 3.0 standard. Kingston HyperX Predator is limited only by PCIe 2.0, which is capable of passing only 500 MB/s through the line.
And while your read and write speeds of 1400 and 1010 MB/s, respectively, will be significantly better than SATA competitors, they won't match the performance of the fastest SSDs. In this case, media that support PCIe 3.0 will also work in the PCIe 2.0 slot, but their speed will be significantly reduced.
Overheated SSDs become slower
The Angelbird Wings PX1 PCIe card adapter with its own cooling radiator prevents overheating of the Samsung 950 Pro
We can now expect data transfer speeds in excess of 2.5 GB/s from PCIe SSDs. SSD drives with M.2 interface produced by OCZ are usually supplied with a PCIe adapter. Based on our measurement results, we see it as more than rational to leave the device there. We measured the characteristics of these devices for M.2 and without an adapter, registering slightly worse values: for example, when reading, a speed of only 2382 MB/s was achieved, which is approximately 130 MB/s less than with the adapter.
Very short reaction time
High data transfer speeds are good for speeding up loading, but the reason why Windows and games run noticeably faster with an SSD drive on a computer is primarily due to the low latency. During testing, we study it during I/O measurements (Input/Output), that is, counting the number of read or write operations performed per second when processing sequential memory blocks. This parameter, the so-called IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second), is the missing “ingredient” for a fast PC, which is often heavily loaded.
In this test discipline, the OCZ RD400 drive has an advantage with 43,974 IOPS when writing. When reading, on the contrary, the result of 18,428 IOPS is not even half of the previous one. Our rating leader, Samsung 960, has the same heterogeneity of characteristics: when writing, it reaches 42,175 IOPS, and when reading - only 29,233.
The enviable similarity of the results is demonstrated by Zotac with its approximately 35,000 IOPS (both reading and writing). However, when comparing products, this parameter often has to be combined with others. At the same time, turbo SSDs should soon “break through” the psychologically important mark of 100,000 IOPS.
The Kingston HyperX Predator performed the worst: about 23,000 IOPS when reading and 17,800 when writing means last place, and by a wide margin. The main reason for this is outdated technology, since this SSD still transfers data using the AHCI protocol. The new NVMe access protocol, on the contrary, is optimized for working with SSDs.
The advantages of NVMe manifest themselves primarily when parallelizing processes: the data transfer protocol allows you to work with I/O queues of up to 65,536 commands. The AHCI protocol is limited to only one queue of 32 commands - and this can cause data accumulation under heavy load.
10 best SSD NVMe drives in terms of price/quality ratio
Even for new ultra-fast drives, prices are gradually decreasing, and the most inexpensive SSD with NVMe support can already be found at the price of SATA drives, and this is good news. We have selected for you the 10 best SSD flash drives with NVMe support in terms of price/quality ratio.
Good day.
The speed of the disk determines the speed of the entire computer as a whole! Moreover, surprisingly, many users underestimate this point... But the loading speed of the Windows OS, the speed of copying files to/from a disk, the speed of launching (loading) programs, etc. - it all depends on the speed of the disk.
Nowadays there are two types of disks in PCs (laptops): HDD (hard disk drive - traditional hard drives) and SSD (solid-state drive - a newfangled solid-state drive). Sometimes their speed differs significantly (for example, Windows 8 on my computer with an SSD starts in 7-8 seconds, versus 40 seconds with an HDD - the difference is colossal!).
And now about what utilities and how you can check the speed of the disk.
One of the best utilities for checking and testing disk speed (the utility supports both HDD and SSD drives). Works in all popular Windows OS: XP, 7, 8, 10 (32/64 bits). It supports the Russian language (although the utility is quite simple and easy to understand even without knowledge of English).
Rice. 1. CrystalDiskMark main window
To test your disk in CrystalDiskMark you need to:
- select the number of write and read cycles (in Fig. 2 this number is 5, the optimal option);
- 1 GiB - file size for testing (optimal option);
- “C:\” - drive letter for testing;
- To start the test, simply click the “All” button. By the way, in most cases they always focus on the line “SeqQ32T1” - i.e. sequential writing/reading - therefore, you can simply select a test specifically for this option (you need to press the button of the same name).
The first speed (Read column, from English “read”) is the speed of reading information from the disk, the second column is writing to the disk. By the way, in Fig. 2 we tested an SSD drive (Silicon Power Slim S70): the read speed is 242.5 Mb/s - not the best indicator. For modern SSDs, the optimal speed is considered to be at least ~400 Mb/s, provided the connection is via SATA3* (although 250 Mb/s is more than the speed of a regular HDD and the increase in speed is visible to the naked eye).
* How to determine the operating mode of a SATA hard drive?
From the link above, in addition to CrystalDiskMark, you can also download another utility - CrystalDiskInfo. This utility will show you the SMART of the disk, its temperature, and other parameters (in general, an excellent utility for obtaining information about the device).
After starting it, pay attention to the line “Transfer mode” (see Fig. 3). If this line displays SATA/600 (up to 600 MB/s), then the drive is operating in SATA 3 mode (if the line displays SATA/300, i.e., the maximum throughput of 300 MB/s is SATA 2) .
AS SSD Benchmark
Author's website: http://www.alex-is.de/ (download link at the very bottom of the page)
Another very interesting utility. Allows you to easily and quickly test the hard drive of your computer (laptop): quickly find out the read and write speed. No installation required, use as standard (as with the previous utility).
The range of solid-state drives on sale numbers hundreds of models, and often their characteristics are so similar that it is almost impossible to determine the superiority of a particular device based on them. The price is not much different - the second true indicator of the quality and capabilities of the device. At the same time, even among seemingly identical SSDs, based on the same controller and equipped with the same amount of flash memory, there are instances that differ quite significantly from their competitors.
The vast majority of mid- and high-end SSDs on the market are controller-based Sandforce second generation. We have already repeatedly examined their features and operating principles, so we will not dwell further. For now, we will only note that the controller is not yet the main factor determining the performance of the drive.
The second platform competing with Sandforce in this segment is Marvell 88SS9174, which is the basis of the Crucial M4 and Intel 510 drives. The SSDs of these two manufacturers, however, cannot be called “twin brothers” - despite the same controllers, they are noticeably different due to different firmware and the use of different NAND memory.
Finally, the third player is the OCZ-owned controller developer Indilinx, on the Everest platform of which the third generation of this manufacturer’s Octane series SSD is based. Unfortunately, they are not represented in our testing, because... Their availability on the market is quite limited.
The most interesting question within our review is the question of how drives based on Sandforce SF-2281 each other, so let’s consider the possible options.
On SSD performance, except controller and its firmware also influence memory type, used in them, and the nature of its connection to the platform. Today, Sandforce-based drives contain Toggle type memory (the fastest and most expensive, found in OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS, Kingston HyperX SSD and some other top models), asynchronous NAND of the ONFI 1.x standard (almost all mass-produced models), as well as that very “dark horse” - synchronous memory of the ONFI 2.2 standard. Its peculiarity is that ONFI 2.2 allows data to be transferred twice in one clock cycle, similar to DDR technology in RAM, resulting in the theoretical throughput of one NAND chip being not 50 MB/s, but 133 MB/s. True, if in DRAM the doubling of bandwidth always occurs, then in the case of NAND there are factors when the increase will not be constant (the controller or chip channel is busy with service operations, for example). However, in most cases, such memory chips provide a noticeable increase in performance, especially in write operations. What’s interesting is that, based on the characteristics declared by the manufacturers, it is almost impossible to determine which chips are installed on a particular SSD - they are compiled based on the results of synthetic tests with the most compressible data, where the controller actually does all the work and does not allow the potential of synchronous memory to be revealed.
Finally, the last important factor affecting the performance of an SSD is connecting NAND chips to the controller. Sandforce SF-2281 has 8 channels, each of which can connect up to 4 NAND crystals (let us clarify that the crystal and the NAND chip are different things; high-density chips can have two or four crystals). The controller is capable, firstly, of accessing all eight channels both simultaneously and separately, and secondly, it can work with each of the connected crystals on a separate channel individually. In practice, this functionality is most clearly manifested in the form of the so-called 4-way interleaving - fourfold alternation of access. If all 8 channels are used, and each of them has 4 NAND crystals, the Sandforce SF-2281 works much more efficiently with them due to selective access to individual crystals. For example, an SSD is quite full and has been in use for a long time, which means it is forced to devote quite a lot of time to background cleaning of cells and balancing their wear. If there is only one crystal on the controller channel, and at the time of accessing it for data it turns out to be busy with service operations, the channel will simply be blocked and the controller will wait for these operations to complete. As a result, the performance of the SSD will noticeably decrease - this is one of the main reasons for the significant drop in performance of drives on Sandforce after significant filling and long-term operation. At the same time, if the controller is able to alternate access to crystals within the channel, it will not wait for the busy crystal to become free, but will simply access a free one without losing performance. We emphasize that 4-way interleaving does not change the SF-2281 from an 8-channel to a 32-channel one (all crystals cannot be accessed at the same time anyway), but only ensures the constant availability of all eight channels for recording.
Note that quadruple interleaving works best in SSD models with a capacity of 240 GB or more - they are equipped with 16 NAND chips, each of which has 2 crystals - resulting in the same optimal configuration of 32 crystals per controller. The 120GB model uses single-chip chips, and there are only 2 chips per channel of the SF-2281, preventing the interleaver from operating at maximum efficiency.
Test participants
ADATA SSD S511 120 GB (AS511S3-120GM)
The first participant in this testing combines selected components: the SF-2281 controller and high-speed ONFI 2.2 synchronous memory. Unfortunately, the manufacturer provided us with only a model with a capacity of 120 GB, so we will not be able to illustrate the difference in speed provided by 4-way interleaving, all other things being equal. However, this does not greatly reduce the attractiveness of the ADATA drive - in addition to the use of a powerful controller and high-speed flash memory, it boasts a fairly attractive price.
Intel SSD 320 300 GB (SSDSA2BW300G3)
This solid-state drive is a follower of the actual ancestor of all SSDs for the desktop PC market and belongs to the entry-level segment. It is based on the Intel controller that dominated in the past (before the advent of even the first generation of Sandforce), on which Intel X25-M G2 drives were previously based. Judging by the stated characteristics (read speed - 270 MB/s, write speed - 205 MB/s), the Intel 320 will not be able to compete with competitors based on Sandforce. However, its positioning on computers with a SATA-II interface and high capacity certainly have their appeal for a certain category of consumers. The Intel 320 is equipped with 25nm asynchronous NAND ONFI 1.1 memory.
Intel SSD 520 240 GB (SSDSC2CW240A3)
Unlike its younger brother, the Intel 520 is designed without compromise: it is based on Sandforce SF-2281 and ONFI 2.2 synchronous memory. We also note that Intel was seriously concerned about the reliability and stability of this series: it was released much later than expected, since Sandforce took an unexpectedly long time to fix firmware errors that caused BSOD. The Intel 520 does not use proprietary Sandforce RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) technology, which allows you to allocate one NAND crystal for the purpose of correcting data read errors on a principle similar to RAID for hard drives. Instead, Intel allocated this die as additional space (with a capacity of 8 GB) for cell wear leveling and background "junk cleaning". This should, in particular, reduce the effect of SSD clogging as it is used and reduce performance degradation.
To monitor and maintain its solid-state drives, Intel offers a special utility, SSD Toolbox. It allows you to check the status of the SSD using SMART, conduct a quick or full scan of the drive, optimize the OS for working with the SSD (set up SuperFetch and Prefetch services, disable defragmentation, etc.).
In addition, SSD Toolbox has two functions that are very popular among users of solid-state drives: under the name SSD Optimizer, it hides the forced sending of the TRIM command to the drive, which initiates the cleaning of cells that are no longer used but occupied by data, and the Secure Erase command is also available, ensuring that the SSD is completely erased and returned to original performance.
SSD Toolbox also allows you to monitor firmware updates for drives and, if new versions become available, download and install them.
Kingston HyperX SSD 240 GB (SH100S3/240G)
A supercar among solid-state drives. This model combines not only the powerful Sandforce SF-2281 controller and synchronous 25nm NAND memory, but also ultra-high-performance firmware that provides up to 95,000 IOPS in 4 KB random read mode (for comparison, competitors often claim about 80,000 IOPS) . Like the Intel 520, this SSD will be able to take full advantage of the quad interleaving we talked about above. In the package, the buyer will find not only the SSD, but also a mounting frame for installation in the 3.5” bay of the case and even a screwdriver for these purposes.
Verbatim SATA-III SSD 240 GB (3SSD240)
This manufacturer is widely known for its external drives, but it is poorly represented on the SSD market. The model we are reviewing is again based on the Sandforce SF-2281, but Verbatim has used slow ONFI 1.1 asynchronous memory in this device. On the one hand, in heavy testing conditions and during active use, this SSD will inevitably be inferior to competitors with synchronous NAND, on the other hand, Verbatim compensates for this with a noticeably reduced price (~$270).
Testing methodology
Before measuring the indicators, all drives were flashed with the latest firmware at the time of testing and restored to their original state using Secure Erase. The set of test applications includes:
— AS SSD– a synthetic test that measures the number of processed SSD requests of different sizes and with different queue depths, and calculates throughput;
— Crystal Disk Mark– an analogue of AS SSD, which uses slightly different algorithms, as a result of which the indicators in these utilities often differ;
— Anvil's Storage Utilities– a comprehensive test package that measures the performance of the drive in different usage profiles and displays the results both in the form of speed indicators and in the form of a final score;
— IOMeter Workstation– test profile of the IOMeter utility, simulating the operation of a heavily loaded workstation;
— Futuremark PCMark Vantage And PCMark 7– test packages that emulate the operation of the drive in the most typical home and gaming computer applications.
In addition to assessing the performance of the new SSDs, we conducted additional tests to determine how the devices will behave under long-term use and high capacity. To do this, the performance of the AS SSD was measured in several scenarios:
— clean SSD after performing Secure Erase (ideal situation);
— immediately after filling it twice with incompressible data and deleting files (the most “severe” situation);
— after a 30-minute “sludge” so that the built-in garbage collection and TRIM algorithms have time to work;
- after forcing the TRIM command (using the ForceTrim utility and Intel SSD Toolbox in the case of Intel drives) and a pause of 10 minutes.
Test bench configuration
| CPU | Intel Pentium G850 | Intel, www.intel.ua |
| Motherboard | Sapphire Pure Platinum Z68 | Sapphire Technology, www.sapphiretech.com |
| Video card | Palit GeForce GTX 560 Sonic Platinum | Palit, www.palit.biz |
| RAM | Kingston KVR1333D3N9/1G 4 GB DDR3 | Kingston, www.kingston.com |
| Storage device | Kingston SSDNow V+ 100 SVP100S2/64G | Kingston, www.kingston.com |
| power unit | Huntkey X-7 1000 W | Huntkey, www.huntkeydiy.com |
Test results
Crystal Disk Mark
The first place is expectedly taken by Kingston HyperX. Firmware with the speed limit disabled gives it the opportunity to be slightly ahead of its rivals even in measuring linear speeds.
Pay attention to the ADATA S511's low linear write performance: this is a direct consequence of this drive's half the capacity, since quadruple write striping does not work on it. The underdog, of course, is the Intel 320 - an outdated controller prevents it from fighting Sandforce 2-based devices.
AS SSD
In this test, the situation is repeated, although the Verbatim SATA-III SSD was able to reach the first line of the chart due to its minimal lead in reading speed. Most likely, the firmware algorithms are to blame: Sandforce-based SSDs are quite actively involved in background maintenance of flash memory cells, often at the wrong time. Nothing else can explain the spread of 10–15 MB/s, which we received throughout testing in different applications during several passes in a row.
As an interesting point, we note that the asynchronous memory in the Verbatim drive, although inferior in linear write speed, is, however, quite at the level of its more “armed” counterparts in terms of the number of processed write requests per second. The ADATA S511, which is half as capacious, cannot be saved even by synchronous memory - a clear illustration of the fact that a theoretical doubling of the throughput of NAND chips does not result in a real doubling of performance.
It is also worth paying attention to the fact that the Intel 320 is ahead in terms of latency. This is explained very simply: firstly, Sandforce SF-2281 constantly analyzes the data transferred to it for compressibility, which takes time, and secondly, the Intel 320 has a cache that is not provided by the Sandforce platform. However, a difference of 1 millisecond is still negligible.
Anvil's Disk Utilities
This test package allows you to take measurements by sending data to disks with different degrees of compressibility. Thus, we emulate ideal and worst-case conditions for Sandforce, as well as two cases that are close to reality - simulating a database and application operation.
Let us immediately clarify that the graph is sorted by the result shown in the 46% compression mode, simulating the operation of applications. That is why, quite unexpectedly, Verbatim SATA-III SSD comes out ahead, which, although not by much, is ahead of the favorites from Intel and Kingston. This pair, in turn, is engaged in a very active struggle: if we discard the never-before-seen option with fully compressible data (0-Fill), then the difference between Kingston HyperX and Intel 520 turns out to be minimal. Let's note the interesting results of ADATA S511: this SSD is still behind the top three, but not by a third, as in synthetic tests. The Intel 320, as always, closes the top five, showing us that the underlying technology is absolutely indifferent to the nature of the data written to the SSD.
IOMeter Workstation
All SSDs based on Sandforce SF-2281 have excellent performance scaling as the depth of the request queue increases - the controller can easily cope not only with their processing, but also with queue reordering and delayed writing.
The graphs, however, clearly show how three models with a capacity of 240 GB, capable of taking advantage of 4-way interleaving, are ahead of the ADATA S511 in the queue with a depth of 16 commands and higher. Interestingly, the use of asynchronous memory in the Verbatim SATA-III SSD does not prevent it from fighting with Kingston HyperX and Intel 520 on equal terms. The Intel 320 still brings up the rear, maintaining a performance of 7-8 thousand IOPS at any queue depth, which, of course, is not much for modern SSDs, but still almost two orders of magnitude more than the bulk of traditional hard drives available on the market.
PCMark Vantage
We move on to “close to life” tests, and immediately we get an unexpected result. Verbatim SATA-III SSD is noticeably ahead of both Kingston HyperX and Intel 520. PCMark Vantage gives quite a lot of points to media that provide high read speed (in particular, in multiple threads) and low latency, so overall the indicator is quite understandable. In addition, it is worth noting that asynchronous NAND memory (like Toggle) does not use the additional clock pulse that synchronous NAND requires, and therefore has a slightly better cell access time. The difference is tiny, but, quite possibly, it still makes itself felt on a large number of requests.
It is worth paying attention to the results of the ADATA S511: the write speed has a rather weak effect on the overall score in PCMark Vantage, so this SSD performs at the level of favorites.
And again, the Verbatim SATA-III SSD is at the top, although the difference between all three 240 GB drives based on Sandforce 2 falls within the measurement error. In the new version of PCMark, the ADATA S511 is still inferior to more capacious models - the write speed has a greater influence on the final results in this package.
Degree of degradation and efficiency of cleaning algorithms
As you can see, after the SSD is completely filled twice, the writing speed on them drops by about a third. If you then give the disk a “break” for 30 minutes to activate the internal algorithm for collecting “garbage” and cleaning cells, which is provided by the firmware itself, performance improves slightly, but no radical changes occur. Note that in the case of Kingston HyperX, the speed even decreased - perhaps he simply didn’t have enough half an hour, and the repeat test caught him just at the moment of cleaning. By the way, this probably happened with the Intel 320 in the read speed test; the drop in speed after the drive was full cannot be explained in any other way - apparently, it immediately began cleaning the cells after deleting the data.
Finally, let's look at the performance of the TRIM command. As you can see, it brings significant results only on the Intel 520. Interestingly, this increase was obtained using the ForceTrim utility - running this command through the Intel SSD Toolbox did not lead to improved results.
It is curious that SSDs from Verbatim, as well as ADATA S511, did not suffer at all from filling the cells: both in their original form after Secure Erase and after filling them twice, they show almost the same speed at the maximum level. Perhaps this can only be explained by the fact that they clean cells very aggressively: as soon as a file is deleted, the firmware immediately resets the cells that stored it. On the one hand, this is good - the speed will degrade less as the SSD gets clogged, but on the other hand, this should lead to increased wear of the cells - the controller cleans them not when they are needed, but at the first free moment. However, the reliability of modern NAND chips still remains at the level of 3–5 thousand cell rewrite operations, so there is no need to be afraid of sudden failure of the SSD.
Results
The purpose of this testing was to show that seemingly identical SSDs on the same platform can be quite different in performance. Unfortunately, the plan failed: Kingston HyperX And Intel 520, equipped with ONFI 2.2 synchronous memory, were unable to achieve a convincing victory over Verbatim SATA-III SSD, built on cheaper asynchronous NAND. However, this should not be taken as a reproach towards these two drives: they are very fast, and in certain conditions they are really noticeably ahead of their opponents. In addition, Kingston has an impressive appearance and a good package, while Intel has convenient software for servicing SSDs. Whether it is worth the overpayment for these models is up to the consumer to decide.
Concerning ADATA S511, then this drive was frankly unlucky with its competitors: if we had a model with a capacity of 240 GB, most likely we would have had 4 winners. But, unfortunately, the 120 GB version is not able to compete with more capacious devices.
And finally, Intel 320. This SSD performs exactly as advertised: it delivers speeds at the SATA II performance limit, is well ahead of hard drives, has high capacity, and is reasonably priced. In general, a good candidate for upgrading an aging PC or (very ideally) laptop.
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